Here at Peters Web, we consider ourselves to be a small business, we have no intention of growing into a huge corporate machine (£££)! We feel that we operate in the best way for our clients by being a small, client-focused company and provide better support as a result. Another bonus of keeping things small, is that we feel that we get to know our clients personally, and can get much more of a feel for how best to meet their needs. Here are my top 5 reasons why small businesses rock!
1) People love a feel-good story – Everyone likes to know how you started as a business and its roots from where it has developed. A small business seems to give off a certain approachable kind of vibe that encourages clients, and visitors alike, to find out more about your company. You can also take this opportunity to spread the word about other small businesses, that you are associated with, and promote the message that clients are better off dealing with other smaller companies. A small business tends to give the impression that the organisation is still in its infancy and clients are getting involved with you right from the beginning, everyone likes to be there at the start right?
2) Good client recommendations speak volumes – . Always try to stick with any offers or agreements that you initially made with each client e.g. allowing an early client to make alternative payment arrangements that are not advertised in an original offer. As a small business, you can afford yourself a degree of flexibility when working with clients and can work more on a case to case basis. Catering for individual circumstances will lead to clients thinking highly of you for taking the time and effort to accommodate their needs. Essentially it’s a great practice to think of your clients as the foundation of your business – if a house was built without solid foundations it would collapse under the weight of its own construction!
3) You don’t have shareholders attached to your organisation – A business that has shareholders attached to it gives the impression that the business in question is a sizeable one, and is most certainly orientated towards making a profit for the benefit of said shareholders. This isn’t always a bad thing, as every business needs to be in a position to make a profit, however, your standard small scale business will only consist of the business owner and a very small tight-knit team. From personal experience, I find that more care is afforded to the client when the business is smaller (and only has a few people attached to the running of the business).
4) You have to be your own motivator – So you could say this one is a double-edged sword! When you own a small business, you have to be your own best friend, which means motivating yourself at all times. Overall I would say this is one of the best things about running your own small business, you have a connection to every nuance of how the business operates and have a bird’s eye awareness of every aspect of day to day operations. If something goes wrong, although the issue at hand tends to sit squarely on your shoulders as a business owner, you tend to know the nature of the problem (and hopefully a strategy on how to fix it!). If the motivation for one particular task is difficult, then there will be another 5 tasks that will aid you in getting motivated to tackle everything that should crop up along the way. Finally this also feeds back into having a more personal connection with your client base which in turn increases the chance of positive relationships.
5) Easy for us to reach out to other similar-sized businesses (each business being the expert in its given field) – Each small business has its own ring of expertise, its own specialist subject. What happens when a client is looking for something extra? Something that the small business in question doesn’t involve in their service? Easy…..the small business points the client to another small business that specialises in the missing subject! Being a small business has the benefit of being able to link up with other businesses of a similar size and form a network. This can mutually benefit each business, as clients can be pointed in the direction of another business depending on their needs. This ensures that clients are transferred to all of the businesses in a given network. Large businesses can sometimes have a ‘jack of all trades approach, so whilst they are able to solve an issue for a client, they will not be able to solve it with the same care and attention to detail that a small, specialist organisation can.
As a footnote clients seem to appreciate it when you are honest , forthcoming and can admit when you don’t have the answer – as long as you put every effort into helping the client find what they are looking for!
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions (open a ticket) with our hosting department – we will try to get back to you as soon as we can!